What are the characteristics of human nature?

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Quick Answer

The characteristics of human nature include being playful, seeking scientific knowledge, language and indulging in gossip, eating meals, developing societal legislation and being clandestine. Other animals may do these things, but it is the way in which humans have developed and exhibit these characteristics that sets them apart. These characteristics are considered to be universal human characteristics, according to New Scientist.

Other animal species are playful, but humans spend the most time on play and place the most importance on entertainment. Ways in which humans entertain themselves include attending social functions, playing sports, dancing, singing, listening to music and watching television. Humans seek scientific knowledge in that they divide the world as they see it into categories and proceed to analyze their findings, discovering how things work. Language is a major fixture in human life that is a large part of the social structure, and it includes gossip. No other species indulges in gossip the way that humans do. Humans are also curiously clandestine, preferring to have sex in private. This is in direct contrast to other animals who copulate without regard to their surroundings and without regard to who might be watching. Humans have also developed an intricate societal system that is composed of rules, laws, etiquette and social taboos. Where other animals simply locate and eat food, humans make meals out of it, putting effort into the preparation and selection of food. Meals do not simply fill the function of eating; they are an integral part of human society.